Indicator tab



Aug. 29, 1933. L, GRAFF Er AL 1,924,239

INDICATOR TAB Filed Jan. 27, 1932 i! I Y /Md 10 jura. @91

MIME/V TORS whammy A from: r.

l g 55 ofsuch card or sheet; In ourp f We Patented Aug. 29,

a -".T'- 1Nnrca'r01t TAB Leland s; aras, Arlington, and Robert A.

Stewart, "Water town, George B. Graflt' Company, Cambrid aCorporation'of lliassachusetts Application Jannaryiz'i, 1932. Serial No. 589,074 d ratio-23) p;

:13 Claims.

ally immediately and completely to'an "original position or shape when distorted therefrom within the limit of its elasticity. The restoring. stress should be large in proportion to the strain. This strongelasticity or spring gives to a cliplformed from such material theability firmly to grip a sheet of; paper or the like over the. edge of. which the clip'isattached. Materials which possess this ability to grip firmlyv will hereinafter be referred to as. sprihgy materials, and. as an example thereof sheet steel may be mentioned.

In addition, it is often highly desirable that a signalqtab be capable of overlapping the front of a sheet to which it is attached without obscurin'g characters on the overlapped portion'ofthe "sheet. Springy materialsas above defined have beenfound tozbe opaque, and forthis reason unsuitable for 'many. uses. Transparent" :ma-

terials, such as transparent celluloid, while they are elastic, do not provide that springy grip which is esesn'tial to efficiency in a clip.

:I-It'is an object of our invention to provide an indicator-tab which maybe readilypand securely attached toa sheet, card, etc., and'may 'be' readily detached and reattached anynumber of times,

and'which at the same timeniay overlap the sheet to which it is attached without materially ob scuring the portion of the sheet so overlapped. V

A-further object is the provision'of 1a construe tion vby-means of which-non 'springy materials especially'suitable for use as signalsor indicators maybe so incorporatedinto a-tab astobe readily attachable to a card or other relatively thin. sheet in a particularly convenient form,-. yet be readily detached andreattachedf I a Having in mind these objects, attainment of otnerzadvamages which will apparent and relatively inelastic or non-springy 0 material attached to a novel clip of relatively sp'ringy material. While thetransparent signal portion overlaps the face of a card, sheetfor the like tothe edge of {which the tab i's attached, the

main body of the clip portion is on the'back -side upward at right angles.

well "as the itself as shown in' Fig.

:tab.

or indicator portion to :the clip-portion.

' For a clearl understanding of the constructio of our tab, and of ,the'method of forming the same; reference may be had tothefaccompanying drawing,inwhich j provide a novel manner of attaching the signal tab; v v Fig.2 is a plan ,viewrofgthe blankfrom which is formedthe. clip portion of the tab shown in Fig. .1;

method of forming-thetabi :Fig. 1 is a perspective view 'of-bne form of tires Figs. 3, .4 and 5 are side elevations showingthe 1/ Fig. 6 is a side elevation of another. of the tab;

; Fig?isa,p1an view oftheblankfromwhich may 'be formed the. clip. portionof the tab illustrated inFig. 6; and I ;-Fig.:-8 is, a perspectiveview The clip portion 10 :'may, as stated *above,- be formed of any-suitable elastic. and. springy fmat'eriaL-such as sheet metal. A blank suchqas that :showing the tab illustrated in Fig; 1 attached to asheet Qof papery-[ illustrated'in Fig-. 2 is' first cut frorna sheet of such. material. This blank hasgspaced extended I leg portionsll at each end; leavingzbetween such portions the open spaces 12 and being longer at I one. end of the blank thanatfthe' other.

the extremities of the leg portions. 11 [are bent Y A-;sheet or. strip 14', preferably but not necessarily of atransparent 1T0 formpthetab the-blank; 101 is' laidflat and l material such as transparentcelluloid, is placed .over the blank and the'upturned-tips ofxthe-legf shown in Fig. ,3. It is sometimes, advisablefto portions 11*are projected through the' strip 14, as-

perforate the strip :14before projecting the tips of the strip,14.. "j The protrudingtips the legs 11 are-then bentflinwardly or clenchedtoward the center of the "iblank,that is,-each dicatorportion; -14 to the-qclip portion 10; Atithe same time, the result of this operationis to spring theprojeoting tips,/as 'shown-ingFigkis I of the legs 11 therethrough; to prevent: splitting V (or, cleriching l rtions of;

..tip end is bent toward the oppositeeendbf the .blank. This securely attachesgthe signal orf-inupwardly ,the portion of the strip 14; 'between pear as thedescription-proceeds,.weconstructa preferred form of our tab -froma strip of trans-- The "clip portion1 0 together'with the attached;

signal Y or indicator :por-tion "lt'is 'thenkbent gupon 5 formingthe indicator This folding ispreferably'donealong theme 5 A-A as indicated in'Fig. 2. Thfeline *A- -A venient and useful'form of tab.' v

, tion 10. 'lhus the only parts of the clip portion whichoverlap the front surface of acard or sheet 'to 'which the tab is attached will be the bent-over sections of the longer leg portions 11.

The card or sheet will therefore-be exposed betweenthe leg-portions offlthe. clipall the way to its upper edge. YAdditional 'strength'at the folding point may be provided by'tapering the endportions'll from the body 10 toward their tipsgas shownin Fig. 2, or by the shoulderconstruction'of the legs, shown in Fig. '7. Since i the extremities of the clip portion are bent around and back, when the tab'is slipped over :the edge Ql,'f0li example, a sheet of paper, such "portions, will not catch on the edge of the paper but present a smooth sloping surface which read-v,

ily slides over this edge.

- The ends of the. indicator-strip "14 may be; rounded as shown at 19, inFig'. 1, and in this j case the folding is preferably done so'thatone end 19 of 1 such strip extends beyond the-other. 20:,

I. which also facilitatesattachment of the tab to a sheet" of paper, etc. Or the'hends: 19, may

7 "--An alternative"construction of our tab is shown be beveled, pointed or made in anydesired form;

2 in Fig. 6. In this construction, the indicator strip -14 is not bent around the clip portion, and thus it overlies only the front of the sheet to which the tab is attached. Theblank for the clip'por- (tion 10 utilized in this form of'tne invention is v illustrated in Fig. '7. The tips of the end portions 7 11 are projected through the body of the strip 151 and'bent backfthereon in the manner-above described. V I V The signal or indicator portion 14' of our tab is not necessarilyi made of :a' transparent mate- 7 tions, arenot ada'pted to -formby= themselves a satisfactory clip, may-in our tab be incorporated into a; practical and; highly convenient form for rial. It maybe opaque being, for ".exa1nple, of a'n opaque celluloid .on which "notations: may readily be made and as readily 'erased-to permit theisubs'titution o'f other notations.Although, in this case the advantage obtained by notobfscuring the face of the'sheet to which the tab is attached will be lacking, other advantages of our invention will be obtained; Materials which, w-h'ilepar'ticularly suited for'use as indicatorlporsuch use.

' -Certain' materials suitable for the" indicator {portion i of: our tabj-for example celluloid'which has been mentioned, are springyand elastic-to 2-fore referred -to1' 9 r v 7 Our indicator'tab may be firmlyattached-over I the edge-of a card, sheet, etc. and may be readily a certain 'eXtent.'- The term-: ineIaStic in they appended claims is intended to include 1 materials which, whilesthey are to some extent e1astic,'ar e n0t;capable of-providing the spring grip hereto detached and reattached. Its novel construction permits the use as indicators'of materials which are especially suitable-for this purpose but are.

'not satisfactory forthe tab as a whole and makes suchmateria'lsavailable in a particularly con- An indicatort'ab having'an underlying clip -m'embe'r of springy material in the form of a strip ofsuch material terminating in narrower and] attached 'theretoan .oVerIying indicator extended end portions and folded upon itself,

m'en'ibe'r :Ico'nsisting' o'f a' st'rip o'f inelastic ma'terial,-projections of the clip member-'piercin'gthe ind'icatorm'ember and =being bent back v to rigidly secure the-clip member thereto,

thereon 2; An indicator tabdesigned to be clipped-t6 sheet material, comprising an underlying strip of springy material terminating in a pair of narrower extended leg portions and folded upon itself't'o form a clip with'gripping faces, a strip of transparent inelastic material folded over said clip to form, indicator members overlying said" gripping faces, projectionsat the extremities of said leg"portions piercing the indicator member and bent thereon to rigidly secure togethersaid grippingand indicator member [*31-An' indicator tab comprising an indicator l7 member consisting of a sheet of inelastic material and attached thereto a clip member consistan end. thereof :in a pair of extended .legrportions, projections on said leg portions being bent, back over an indicator sheet which overlies, said clip to attach'said indicatorsrigidly to said: clip; 7

,5. An' indicator tab comprising an indicator member and attached thereto a clip member con iextendedtleg portions, said rstrip. as a Whole being folded upon itself to form opposed gripping portions ofunequal length, projections on the shorter. gripping portion piercing. the indicator over. a a I a 6. .An in icator'tab designed to be clipped to sheet material, comprising an-un'derlying clip of springy'materialin the form ofa strip of such material folded upon itself to'iform gripping members, 'one ofisaidmembe'rs having separated leg portions, astrip :of transparent material forming an indicatorgfsaidindicator being folded -on itself and folded ov'er'said clip, means for rigidly securingtogetherthe adjacent foldedroverrpormember ofthe tab and'being bent back there-' sisting of a strip of springy material terminating j tions of said clipfiand said indicator, whereby '7 ."when said tab is clipped onto sheet material one side of saidmaterial willgbe visible through .said transparent tab except at theipoints :ofaengagement'jwith said leg portions ofthecliph s,

7; A method of forming. an indicator tab {comprises superimposing a-flat sheet of inelastic material on a flat :strip' iof springymaterial,lpro 2 :jecti'n'gyends of saidpstrip, through said :sheet, bending SilChzPIORCtBdBhd'S toward opposite: ends of -said..-:strip and then bending zuponvfitselrsaid strip with the attached, sheet.

.: 8. Anin'dicatoritab, designed;to' beclipped sheet material, I comprising .a flat strip of :sprin'gy material terminating. in narrow extended :rleg

' por tion's' and folded' 'upon itself to form a clip, 'a strip of relatively inelastic material forming an indicator adjacent and 'pverlying said :clip,

means' 'for' rigidly securingsaid clip to said over memd ewr I 9. An" indicator tab; adapted to be clipped as sheet. material, i'compri'sing an 'underlyi sprin'gy material :in;the form of'a strip'of such material folded upo i' itself t form gripping f members',,; andfa; strip of transparent material forming an indic'aton and rigidly-attached to'bri'e 1 of saidgrippingmembers so as'ltoloverlieia sur- :11!) face of a sheet to which-the clip .islattached,"

on ipp n mem r n ii s n narrow es .arated leg portions, w'vherebyfwhen saidatab is f dicator between said narrow leg portions'of the clip.

ing portions which pierce the body'of the indicator strip and are bent back upon its outer face 'to attach said indicator to said clip. a

11. An indicator tab designed to be clipped to sheet material, comprising a clip of springy material in the form of a strip of such material folded upon itself to form opposed gripping members which overlie surfaces of a sheet to which the tab is clipped, saidclip being centrally cut out adjacent the fold thereof so as to leave narrow separated leg portions extending from the fold of the clip over a surface of the-sheet, and a transparent indicator strip, rigidly attached to the clip and so positioned as to overlie the surface of the sheet over which the separated leg portions of the clip extend, whereby when the tab is clipped to sheet material a side of said sheet material will be visible through said indicator strip adjacent the fold of the clip except at the points of engagement with the narrow separated leg portions. I

12. An indicator tab designed to be secured to sheet materiaL comprising a clip of springy material in the form of a strip of such material folded upon itself to form opposing gripping members between which a sheet may be inserted with a gripping contact, said clip being centrally cut out adjacent the fold thereof so as to leave narrow separated legportions extending from the fold of the clip'over a surfaceof the sheet when so inserted, an indicator member of transf parent material overlying the surface of the sheet, and a projection on the clip which pierces'said indicator member and is bent thereon to secure the two members rigidly together, whereby when I the tab is clipped to sheet material a side of said sheet material will be visible through said indicator strip adjacent the fold of the clipexcept at the'points overlain by the narrow separated leg portions.

13. An indicator forcards or sheets, 'compris-f ing a flexible strip folded'to present superposed tab members, and a clip of springsheet material doubled upon itself and presenting smooth opposed gripping faces normally in contact with each other but adapted to be yieldinglyseparated by an interposed card or sheet, the'clip havingspaced outwardly directed clenching portions which pierce the body of the flexible strip and are clenched upon its outer face to members to the clip.

LELnND SgGRAFFs ROBERT A. STEWART.

bind the tab 

